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Modern Writers
When a number of literary experts were asked to describe Ukrainian literature in three adjectives, they used words like energetic, promising, witty and imaginative. The worlds created by contemporary writers are often mystical and mysterious. They show how writers use Ukraine’s tradition of rich folk stories in their writing. However, many writers also set their novels in the modern day. Let’s look at some popular authors.
Maria Matios is one of the stars of Ukrainian literature. Some of the novels have historical settings, others are set the present day. The backgrounds to the stories are often national crises or difficulties, such as the Second World War, or the struggle for Ukrainian independence. They are psychological novels, for example, her story Hardly Ever Otherwise (Maizhe nikoly ne navpaky). The story takes place in a village at the beginning of the 20th century. It explores a murder from different points of view and is a story of love, hate and envy.
Matios has won many award for her work. She received the “Book of the Year” prize in 2004 and the “Taras Shevchenko National Award” in 2005 for her novel Sweet Darusia (Solodka Darusia). This book and others have been turned into successful plays.
Vasyl Shkliar is concernes with the psychology of his characters. His first novel The Key (Kluch) tells the story of a journalist who receives the key to a flat. The owner of the flat has disappeared and the journalist decides to find out what has happened. As in his other novels, the characters and their worlds are as important as solving the mystery or crime. His other books are also very popular and several have been translated into other languages.
Liubko Deresh is one of a number of successful young writers. He had three books published by the time he was nineteen and all of them became best-sellers. He is a Ukrainian Stephen King and writes books in the crime and horror genres. They are also mystical, for example in The Cult (Kult) the main character enters his own fantasy worlds. Deresh has won the “Good Book of the Year” prize for the most original novel twice.
The list is incomplete without Liuko Dashvar – the pen name of Iryna Chernova. Her books are read by millions of people of different ages. She has the title of “Golden writer”, as her books have all sold over 200,000 copies. Each book is different and the plots are gripping. Among the most popular novels are: Milk with Honey (Krov z Molokom), Paradise Centre (Rai Tsentr) and To Have Everything (Maty Vse). Be warned, when you start reading one of her books you won’t be able to put it down.